Tuesday, December 10, 2013

The Little Girl Inside - Christmas Link Up

I found this picture and couldn't resist. What a vicious child!

I was excited to hear that Helene from Helene In Between and Taylor from The Daily Tay were doing a Christmas related link up this week! I love any excuse to write about Christmas, but to be able to reminisce on my blog about being a kid during Christmas is exciting! I love that feeling I would get right before the holidays.. Once school was out for Christmas Break, then it was literally 'go time'! First of all, remember what it's like to not really be able to keep track of time once school was out? I would have to ask my mom or siblings what day it was and how many sleeps that meant before Christmas. I used to measure time by t.v. shows. I would go to the park and my mom would tell me to be home by two Sesame Streets. Oh, being a kid is the best.

A hugely fond memory that stands out will always be decorating the Christmas tree. We would go out to the bush and pick out our very own tree. Rudi would chop it down and we'd all bring it home. Once it was home, it was always-
1. Cold in the house from the door being opened while my parents lugged that awkward, sappy tree through the door.
2. Time to be quiet and patient. It was a bit tense while they were trying to get that tree centered in the tree stand. For some reason they always had a hell of a time getting it in properly and straight. (Perhaps they should have bought a better stand).
3. Exciting because we knew that we would be decorating our tree the very next day!

Mom always put the lights up the day that we got the tree. Then the next evening we would all get to decorate. Of course everyone had their own decorations that we liked to put up. The bunnies, Mom's mouse, the owls and the love birds. We would play Christmas music, drink eggnog and take our time because we never wanted that moment to end. Once the tree was all decorated, us three kids would crawl under the tree with our new colouring books and colour together, by the light of the tree. Colouring under the tree will always be a memory I will cherish. My sister's little ones now colour under their Christmas tree and once Alina is old enough, she will too.

The best part of Christmas would have to be the night before Christmas. There was a time and it could have just been the one time, but it stands out so much in my memory that I can't help but think it was for a couple of Christmas'. An "I Love Lucy" marathon played all night long on Christmas Eve. My sister and I always shared a room and on this night, every year, my brother would sleep on the floor of our room so we could all wake up together. I remember them sneaking the t.v. on so we could watch the marathon, with basically no sound because we were being that quiet. (Yeah right. Our parents probably heard us and just let us think we were being sneaky.) That year, like every year whoever woke up in the middle of the night, would be in charge of waking the rest of us with a flashlight in hand. We would creep out of our room and check out first, the stockings to confirm that Santa came. Then we'd seek out our presents! We would point out the big ones to each other. I have no idea how we fell back asleep afterward. Oh this memory gives me festive butterflies in my tummy thinking about it! Heehee.

Christmas morning. I can't help but think of all of those mornings of the past with a goofy grin on my face. One Christmas morning Santa left junk cereal under each one of our stockings. I got the Pac Man Marshmallow Cereal and I knew Santa was real because my mom would never let us have cereal with marshmallows in it! Another Christmas to remember would be when I got my first pet, Doodle; the hamster. I felt so special because I was the only kid in our entire history of Christmas' to get a pet for a gift. One year that really stands out is when I started to doubt Santa's existence. I wrote him a long letter asking for proof, a picture, anything to lead me to believe he was real. That Christmas morning I received a note with one word written on it in Santa's messy writing; BELIEVE. That's all the validation I ever needed.

Let's all note a couple of things in the bottom picture... Let's start with our matching couches and end off with our gorgeous, one of a kind mustard yellow SHAG carpet. Hellooo 1989!

Each year I feel the tickle of excitement in my tummy, at 28. I continue to have a hard time falling asleep on Christmas Eve. I still creep out in the middle of the night before Rob wakes up to take a sneak peak at my presents. Some things just never change at Christmas and that's the little girl that lives inside me. She comes out for a bit during this time and I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm not the only one . . .

Thanks girls for giving me a reason to sit down and remember some of the fondest memories I have stored in the ol' memory bank!!

I too once left Santa a letter asking for proof (I think I asked him to sign it) It must have been amazing to literally cut down your tree and not just get it from a store parking lot. I used to always sneak a peak and what I got for presents- naughty! x